Gardaí are searching for a three-man gang that held a Cork family captive for almost an hour and threatened them at gunpoint, forcing them to hand over credit cards and other details of foreign bank accounts.
The gang, who wore balaclavas and blue boiler suits, broke into the family home at Belmont, Belgooly, near Kinsale, Co Cork, at around 7am yesterday and threatened a man and his wife, both in their 50s, and their teenage son.
The gang was armed with a pistol and leather coshes of a type used by some foreign police forces. They beat the family with the coshes and covered the woman's head with a pillow and her son's head with a coat as they threatened the man.
The homeowner works in the UK and the gang forced him to hand over bank details relating to accounts he holds in the Isle of Man. They also forced him to hand over credit cards and a laptop computer containing details relating to the accounts.
The gang, who spoke with what were described as foreign accents, made their getaway in the family's car at around 7.50am. They abandoned it some 300 yards away, where gardaí believe they had their own getaway car hidden.
The family managed to raise the alarm and the man managed to contact his bank in the Isle of Man and advise them that his laptop and credit cards had been stolen. As of last night, it appeared that no monies had been taken from his account.
Garda technical experts yesterday carried out a forensic examination of both the house and the family car in the hope of finding clues to the identities of the gang behind the raid.
Gardaí are not ruling out that the gang's foreign accents may have been faked.
